Crustal Structure of the US Chukchi Shelf: Insights From 9-Km Long-Offset Arcticspan™ 2-D Seismic Data

The sequence regionally recognized as prospective for hydrocarbons consists of 8-10 km of well-imaged post-Upper Devonian sedimentary rocks. These new data also image several kilometers of pre-Ellesmerian rocks that record multiple as-yet poorly understood tectonic events. In the eastern Chukchi platform a mildly deformed and apparently unmetamorphosed pre-Ellesmerian sedimentary section, >10 km thick, transitions to the west into a deformed region with a number of Franklinian and possibly older extensional and compressive features. In the north, a thick (>10 km) sedimentary wedge, a significant part of which is less than 80 my old, has been recognized in the North Chukchi Basin. With further analysis, this new data set should lead to a comprehensive reevaluation of the Chukchi Shelf.